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Sunday, July 27, 2014

The Silver Tsunami moves ahead with
full force, alarms blaring and warning whistles screeching. What will be the
plight of the aging Boomer generation? Will we pound the final nail into the
coffin of Medicare and Medicaid as we reach the age of vulnerability for
Alzheimer’s disease?

Until now, the answer to these
questions has been yes—Alzheimer’s will increase at an alarming rate. What has
changed? The cure for Alzheimer’s is still that elusive goal that motivates
researchers and advocates to keep applying pressure. The Silver Tsunami builds
momentum at the rate of 10,000 boomers turning sixty-five each day—and will
continue until 2030 when all have turned that age.

I am a boomer and quite distressed
at our future as the generation whose defining disease is Alzheimer’s. Nope.
Not what I want for my future.

Then a glimmer of real hope for
boomers comes from the Alzheimer’s Association
International Conference in Copenhagen. When comparing late 1970’s data,
the Framingham Heart study showed a forty-four percent decline in new cases of Alzheimer’s,
especially in people in their sixties.

Overall better cardiovascular health
is contributing to this new trend. Routine blood work gives us the options to make
adjustments to our health destiny. By treating high blood pressure,
cholesterol, and diabetes, we control conditions that otherwise would rob us of
good health. Other contributing factors to the good news for boomer’s health: a
decline in smoking and an increase in education. Researchers believe that
education builds up a neurocognitive “reserve” that helps compensate for brain
damage.

It seems that it is harder to avoid
helpful information about ways to decrease Alzheimer’s than it is to find it.
This morning as I was skimming through old magazines before taking them to the
recycle bin, I saw an interesting article on anti-aging that focused on
brainpower. I had seen the suggestions before, but, hey, it never hurts to
reinforce prior learning. I sped-read through the benefits of omega-3 fatty
acids (note to self: eat more fish!), eat fruits and vegetables (food, yay!),
and exercise (clears throat—trying again to get back on track).

Then, in place of the normal “exercise
your brain,” it was worded in a new way: Find a purpose in life. If nothing
else, I have a good handle on this one! I believe that a purpose in life is
where we boomers excel. And get this good news—having a purpose in life means
you are two and a half times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s as your
friends, relatives, and acquaintances who just drift aimlessly through life.

Other interesting facts I gleaned
from these old “worthless” magazines included a weight reduction program based
on the percentage of fresh fruits and vegetables you ate each week. According
to an article in First, you could
lose three pounds a week by making fifty-percent of your food raw fruits and
vegetables. The theory is that you increase fat burning enzymes. Hmmm. Not so
sure that would agree with my digestive system.

After reading the good news about
boomer’s health, I was inspired to complete a thirty-minute workout based on
exercises I found in an old Reader’s
Digest. After I gathered up my
weights, a quilt for the floor, and a kitchen chair I was ready to start. I
turned on the TV to a thirty-minute show—Joel Osteen—for a half-hour of
perspiration and inspiration. I was not disappointed! As I lifted weights and
huffed and puffed through floor exercises, I listened to Joel Osteen talk about
the life-changing value of…purpose.

Joel Osteen, the workout, and good
news from AAIC helped me face the day with optimism for my personal health
future—and for that of other aging boomers.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

When it comes to war, we often worry
about our loved one’s safety and pray they will come home unharmed. It doesn’t
usually happen that way. Some come home with outward injuries, but appearances
can be deceptive. Those who appear uninjured often suffer the invisible scars
of PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) or TBI (traumatic brain injury).

I saw firsthand the effects of PTSD
and how life-disrupting it can be. Vietnam changed Jim. I could see some of
those changes immediately—sudden loud noises could send him to the ground.
While on R&R from Vietnam, the drums from a luau on the beach threw him
into instant combat mode. Later, it would be fireworks, gunshots, nightmares,
flashbacks, or mental breaks that ripped the scabs off the scars.

Of course, Jim went on to develop
dementia, and I couldn’t help but wonder if his PTSD or exposure to Agent
Orange could have been an underlying factor. At the time, I found an article
linking PTSD to shrinkage of the hippocampus, the brain’s gateway for new
memories. VA doctors dismissed the possibility of PTSD playing any part in his
memory loss.

Various studies have shown that PTSD
is indeed a risk factor for dementia. In addition to PTSD studies are now
underway to examine the risk of combat TBI. Brain injury isn’t always caused by
a blow to the head; it can also be caused by blasts. In fact, blasts are the
cause of most combat traumatic brain injuries.

The Alzheimer’s Neuroimaging
Initiative is being used to compare PTSD and TBI as dementia risk factors in
Vietnam veterans over age 65. They will be broken down into groups with PTSD
only, TBI only, and veterans with both PTSD and TBI. Cohorts should be fully
recruited by October 2014. This is the beginnings of a comprehensive study in
dementia risk factors in veterans.

Vietnam veterans are being used
because of their age because dementia development may take decades. The wars in
Iraq, Afghanistan, and acts of terrorism have contributed to more cases of TBI.

Although I’ve focused on TBI in veterans,
some of the other causes are sports, vehicle crashes, and the number one cause
of TBI: falls. In the United States, 1.4 million suffer TBI each year. The
three classifications of TBI are (1) mild—doesn’t knock you out, or less than
thirty minutes; (2) moderate—unconscious for more than thirty minutes; and (3)
severe—unconscious for more than twenty-four hours.

TBI increases dementia risk. In
older adults, moderate TBI more than doubles the risk of Alzheimer’s and severe
TBI increases the risk to 4.5 times that of a person who has not had a brain
injury. Mild TBI does not increased risk unless it is repeated, such as that
caused by contact sports or being exposed to blasts over a period of time.

Adding to the risk factors of TBI is
the presence of the apolipoprotein E genotype (APOE). In a study of boxers, all
of those who developed severe dementia had at least one copy of APOE-e4. Another interesting observation with the
boxers was that the greatest risk was determined by the number of rounds boxed
rather than the number of times a boxer was knocked out. This would indicate
that repeated mild TBI was as much of a risk factor as a small number of severe
TBIs.

Part of the link between Alzheimer’s
disease and TBI is the presence of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease—the proteins
beta-amyloid and tau. After a severe brain injury, beta-amyloid will increase
within hours. Repeated mild TBI increases the protein tau and sometimes also
increases beta-amyloid deposits.

As I worked my way through the
statistics, I was struck by a few thoughts. One was that genetic testing on Jim
showed that he had one copy of APOE-e4. One copy slightly increased the risk of
Alzheimer’s, but not nearly as much as two copies would have. The other thing
that struck me was that Jim died at fifty-nine which would have been too young
for any study with the age sixty-five threshold. Ironically, if he had not died
from dementia, he would have been old enough now. Next month, he would have
celebrated his 69th birthday.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

The puppy came to his door on a cold
winter night, shivering, whimpering, and voicing a few timid barks. She knew she needed
help, but was afraid she would get a boot in the side rather than a helping
hand.

He turned on the porch light and saw
her sitting there, a little puff of fur, big eyes. “I don’t want a puppy,” he
said.

“Maybe she belongs to one of your
neighbors and just got lost,” I said.

He turned the light off and tried to
forget the puppy, but the look in those big eyes just wouldn’t go away. Back to
the porch, light on, the puppy was gone. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Then a sound from the back deck let
him know the puppy had merely moved to a different door. “What do I do?” he
asked.

“At least give her food and water,”
I suggested. “She’s too little to make it on her own.”

Once we went outside, the puppy
shied away. She hid behind the barbeque grill. Finally, we coaxed her out, but
she surprised us by ignoring the food and water we had put out for her. She didn’t
seem to know how to eat or drink. The puppy was listless, and I had doubts that
she could be saved, and if she was, would she always be timid and afraid of
people?

The puppy finally took a little
nourishment. He fixed a box with blankets to shelter her from the wind and
weather. The puppy settled down and went
to sleep.

After calls to the neighbors, it
became obvious that someone had dumped this puppy to die along the roadway.
Although she was settled temporarily with some of the basics: food, water,
shelter, the puppy would need a lot of patience, medical care, and most of all,
love, in order to survive.

Humans, too, need this type of
emotional support. When a family member has dementia, and you can no longer
care for them at home, you may have to find another place for them to stay. You
choose a home that will take good care of your loved one and will provide the
basics and medical care they need.

Placing a loved one in long-term
care doesn’t mean you walk away thinking now it is out of your hands. I believe
the thing that disturbed me most when Jim was in a nursing home was the lack of
visitors for some of the residents. It not only disturbed me, it disturbed the employees.
They saw the loneliness, the listlessness, as day after day passed and no
family member came with smiles and hugs. No one to say, “I love you.” No one to
show their love by the simple act of being there, cheerful and caring.

Jim had daily visitors and family
that loved him. Sometimes he didn’t really show much of a reaction—other times,
his blue eyes would light up. Regardless, he knew someone would be there to
spend time with him. To make him feel loved.

Love makes a life-changing
difference with people—and with puppies. The puppy that had been abandoned has
turned into a rambunctious, happy, healthy member of the family. Never
underestimate the power of love.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

I sat out on the deck last night
looking at the stars and rubbing my arms because the breeze was just a wee bit
chilly. That seemed a little strange since earlier in the day, the hot, muggy
air clung to my skin and made me feel like I was trying to breathe underwater.

When I was young, summer vacation always
seemed to be hot, humid, and long. We lived in the country in the middle of
nowhere. Playing outside meant dealing with the full blast of heat and sun.
Even swimming in tepid lake water only provided temporary relief. It didn’t
take long to be just as hot or hotter. There was no place to cool off except beneath
a shade tree. During the hot summer months, I read a lot of books and spent
most of my time trying to stay cool. I’d sit in front of the box fan, dressed
in tank tops and shorts, reading a book.

Nighttime didn’t always bring
relief. Windows were left open and a fan would blow the cooler night air in, or
on some nights, it might be reversed to blow hot air out.

Yes, summer in Missouri can be a
scorcher, if you’re not loitering under the air conditioner. Of course, that’s
the very reason that outside can seem unbearable. It’s hard to acclimate to a
twenty degree change in temperature by simply stepping over the doorsill.

I find myself chilly inside and
uncomfortably warm outside. A few times, I’ve been caught off guard when I step
outside wearing sweatpants and a flannel shirt.

The thing I thought about when I was
looking at the stars last night is that now summer doesn’t seem to be nearly as
long as I remember it from my youth. If I want to go somewhere, I walk out of
my frigid house, jump in an air-conditioned car, drive to an air-conditioned
store. In other words, I can pretty much avoid the heat. Not only that, but as I
get older it seems that time goes by much faster. June was here and gone before
I had time to turn the pages in all my calendars at home. It just zipped past.

With June being my birthday month,
it kind of seems like maybe life is flashing before my eyes at times. It doesn’t
help that two wonderful men I had the pleasure of knowing passed away during
the final days of June. One was struck down by the cruelest of diseases—Alzheimer’s.
I had been in contact with family members as they went through the day-to-day
stresses, quandaries, and grief that watching a loved one fade away brings with
it. Now their grief takes a new direction as they learn to live without him.

While I was still adjusting to his
death, I learned of author Jory Sherman’s death. I knew Jory was not doing well
and that he made the decision to go home “to die.” He wanted to spend his final
days in the place he loved.

Jory was an inspiration to me when I
first started writing. He critiqued my work, and I subscribed to his “story of
the month.”

As soon as I learned of his death, I
pulled out the Sadness of Autumn, Tales
of the Ozark Hills. I knew that in Jory’s lyrical words, I would find some
words of wisdom and comfort. It only took about two minutes before I came upon
a passage in “Summerend” a story Jory wrote about his father’s death. Jory Sherman wrote: “There was the voice of him in the stark yellow wind
that blew in my face and took my voice out of my dry throat. There was the
gentle hand of him in fallow earth where he would have kneaded the soil and its
seeds to a fine and green growing. There was his spirit scattered all over
acres of sky and his heart moving the blood through my own and my children’s
and their children’s lives. It is a sad thing when the summer begins to end.”

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Early Onset Alzheimer’s

This award-winning blog is a must-read for individuals experiencing early-onset Alzheimer’s. Less common than standard age-related dementias, early onset Alzheimer’s is virtually always a surprise to diagnosed individuals. Linda Fisher, blogger and author, knows the difficulty of this condition firsthand.

In her Early Onset Alzheimer’s blog, she teaches readers not just how to manage such a frightening condition, but also how to live life to the fullest. Her passion for helping others – showing everyone that life with Alzheimer’s is worth living – is a tremendous gift. Thank you, Linda!

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Early Onset Blog has received several blog awards. Due to new Google regulations, the links had to be removed. Past awards have included the #1 Health Blog , Top 10 blog in 2010, Top 25 Blog award in 2010, and a Top 50 award in 2012. We appreciate the recognition, but also understand the need to remove the links.

I went to sleep around midnight and woke up at 4:00 a.m. I tossed, turned, read, tossed, turned, and read some more. Finally more than t...

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Books are a print version of Linda's award-winning Blog. These books are published for the benefit of those without Internet access or who just prefer to curl up with a book rather than browsing online. If you enjoy Linda's blog posts, you might want to purchase the book for a friend or family member.

Fisher began her online journal to share her experiences with families affected by early onset dementia. Her essays provide insight into family life often from a humorous viewpoint. She writes from her experiences as a longtime Alzheimer's Association volunteer and advocate and ten years as a primary caregiver for her husband, Jim.

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I have participated in a link exchange with the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation. They have this blog http://earlyonset.blogspot.com/ listed in their Alzheimer's blogs.

Lindsay Nason wrote about my Early Onset Blog: "I want to thank you for sharing your powerful experience and your creative suggestions with others. . . . Your blog offers a unique and personal insight into this disease, which can be such a comfort to other members of the Alzheimer's community."

Thank you, Lindsay, for your kind words and for including the Early Onset Blog on your website.